An Act permitting those who will not take oaths to be otherwise qualified.

[From revised Bills of 1779, chap. CXIX p. 83; Chan.
Rev. p. 89.]

BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That any person
refusing to take an oath, and declaring religious scruples to be the true and only reason of such
refusal, if he will use the solemnity and ceremony, and repeat the formulary observed on similar
occasions, by those of the church or religious societies he professeth himself to be a member of,
or to join in communion with, shall thereupon be deemed as competent a witness, or to be as duly
qualified to execute an office, or perform any other act, to the sanction whereof an oath is or
shall be required by law, and shall be subject to the same rules, derive the same advantages, or
incur the same penalties of forfeitures, as if he had been sworn. In presentments, indictments,
inquisitions, verdicts, examinations, or other forms, the words "upon their oath" or "sworn" may
be left out, and instead of them "in solemn form" or "charged" whichever may be adapted to the
case, may be inserted; but if the antient form be adhered to, it shall not be adjudged errour.

Solemnities and forms instead of oaths.

CHAP. VIII.

An Act for raising a body of Cavalry.

BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That for defence
of the commonwealth, under the present invasion, it shall be lawful for the governour, with the
advice of the council of state, to cause to be raised by voluntary enlistments, so many troops of
cavalry, as in their judgments shall be requisite, to be formed and officered as they shall think
best.

Troop of cavalry to be raised, at discretion of executive,
during existing invasion.

The officers and troopers shall receive such pay, rations, and
forage, as are allowed and given to the cavalry of the United States, and to commence from the
time of their rendezvous. They shall continue in service during the present invasion, unless
sooner discharged by the governour and council. Each of the said troopers shall bring his own
horse into the service, and if such horse be killed, otherwise die, be captured, or lost during
service, not through the default of the trooper; or if any arms or accoutrements, with which the
trooper may furnish himself, be taken, injured, or lost, without his default, the same shall be
paid for out of the publick treasury, at such price as shall be estimated by three indifferent
persons, to be appointed and sworn by the commanding officer of the said cavalry, truly and
impartially to value the same, according to the best evidence which they shall be able to
procure. The said troopers during their service, shall be subject to the same rules and articles
of discipline and government, to which the militia are subject when called into actual service.

CHAP. IX.

An Act for fixing the allowance of the members of
the General Assembly.

[Chan. Rev. p. 90.]

WHEREAS it is just that the members of general assembly, delegated
by the people to transact for them the legislative business, should, while attending that
business, have their reasonable sustenance defrayed, dedicating to the publick service their time
and labours, freely and without account; and it is also expedient that the publick councils
should not be deprived of the aid of good and able men, who might be detered from entering into
them, by the insufficiency of their private fortunes to bear the extraordinary expenses they must
necessarily incur, and it being inconsistent with the principles of civil liberty, and contrary
to the natural

rights of the other members of the society, that any body of men therein should have
authority to enlarge their own powers. prerogatives or emoluments, without restraint: the said
general assembly cannot at their own will increase the allowance which their members are to draw
from the publick treasury for their expenses while in assembly, but to enable them so to do, an
application to the body of the people has become necessary, and such application having been
accordingly made to the several counties, and a majority of them having thereupon consented that
the said allowance shall be enlarged, and authorized their members to enlarge the same for
themselves, and the members of all future assemblies to fifty pounds of neat tobacco by the day
for attendance on assembly, and two pounds of like tobacco for every mile they must necessarily
travel gong to or from the same, together with their ferriages, to be paid in money out to the
publick treasury, at such rate as shall be estimated by the grand jury at the session of the
general court next, before the meeting of every session of assembly, governing themselves in the
said estimate by the worth of the said tobacco, and the competence of the same to defray the
necessary expenses of travelling and attendance. Be it therefore enacted by the General
Assembly, by express authority from the body of the people, that the allowance to the
several members of the present, and of all future general assemblies, shall be of fifty pounds of
tobacco by the day for attendance on the said assemblies, two pounds of the like tobacco for
every mile they must necessarily travel going to or from the same, together with their ferriages,
to be paid to them in money out of the publick treasury, at such rate as shall be estimated by
the grand jury at the session of the general court next, before the meeting of each respective
session of assembly, governing themselves in the said estimate by the worth of the said tobacco,
and the competence of the same to defray the necessary expenses of travelling and attendance.

Act for enabling the Treasurer to emit a sum of money for
supplying the publick exigencies.

WHEREAS it is at present uncertain whether the monies directed to
be emitted by an act of the last assembly, entitled "An act for
providing a supply in aid of the loan office," and those which have, and shall come into the
treasury, until the taxes of the present year be paid in, will be sufficient to answer the calls
for the publick service: Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That it may and shall be
lawful for the treasurer of this commonwealth, to issue treasury notes in dollars for any sum, or
sums, which may be required to supply the deficiency, until the taxes of this present year shall
be paid in, so as the sum to be issued by authority hereof do not exceed one million of pounds.
And he shall cause such notes to be engraved and printed in such manner, and on such paper, as he
shall judge most likely to secure the same from being counterfeited. He shall appoint proper
persons to overlook the press, and to number and sign the notes, upon the best terms he can. The
bills of credit to be emitted by virtue of this act, shall be entered in the auditors office to
the debit of the treasurer, and be signed in the left hand corner by one of the auditors or of
their clerks, or by any assistant clerk to be appointed for this special purpose by the auditors,
who shall receive such allowance for his service as they shall judge reasonable; without which
signature, the said notes or bills of credit shall not be current. If the taxes imposed by the
several acts now in force shall be insufficient to answer the purposes for which the said taxes
were laid, and also for the redemption of the notes to be issued by authority of this present
act, farther provision shall be made by law for making good the deficiency, and redeeming the
whole before the first day of December, which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand seven
hundred and eighty six.

An Act for raising a body of troops
for the defence of the commonwealth.

FOR the better defence of the commonwealth and providing a force
sufficient to repel any hostile invasion: Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That
four regiments of infantry be raised, two for the defence of the western frontiers, and two for
the defence of the eastern limits of this state. Each regiment to be commanded by a lieutenant
colonel commandant (who shall take rank of a colonel of militia) and a major, the regiments to be
divided into ten companies, each company to be commanded by one captain, one lieutenant, and one
ensign, the field officers, as well as the inferiour commissioned officers, to be appointed by
the governour, with the advice of the council, and commissioned by the governour. The whole to be
arrayed, armed, disciplined, and provided as the governour and council, from time to time, shall
direct. For completing those regiments, each county in this state, and the city of Williamsburg,
except the county of Illinois, shall furnish one twenty fifth part of their militia. And for the
more speedy and certain mode of raising the said men: Be it enacted, That the county
lieutenant or commanding officer of each county within this commonwealth, so soon as he is
certified of this act, shall summon the four senior justices, not being field officers, and the
field officers of his county, to meet at such convenient time and place in the said county as he
shall appoint, within not less than five, or more than ten days after due notice thereof to them
given, which said justices and field officers, or in the absence of any of them, any two or more
of the said justices, and any two or more of the said field officers having first taken an oath,
to be administered by the senior justice to the other members, and by some one of the other
justices to him, to do equal and impartial justice to the best of their judgment therein, shall
proceed to lay off the militia in their respective counties into divisions, agreeable to the act
of the last session of assembly, entitled

Four regiments to be raised, two for the defence of the
western, and two for the eastern frontiers.

"An act for speedily recruiting the Virginia regiments
on continental establishment;" each division so laid off, is hereby required to produce to
the county lieutenant, one able bodied man, on or before the first day of August next. Every able
bodied volunteer enlisting for any division, shall be entitled to a bounty from the division of
seven hundred and fifty dollars, to be paid by the individuals therein, and there shall be added
to every division so laid off, every person liable to a tax within the bounds of the said
districts, making them as equal as possible, who shall pay in proportion to their respective
taxable property as it stands taxed for the present year. Every division returning such volunteer
soldier, shall be entitled to a discount for the bounty aforesaid in the next years tax, in
proportion to the respective sums paid by the individuals therein. The field officers of each
county, or a majority of them, shall meet on the first day of August, and direct certificates to
be given to every individual of the sums severally paid for their respective proportions of the
bounty aforesaid, such certificates to be taken by the commissioners of the tax in evidence of
the discount to be allowed to each individual in the tax of the next year. If any of the said
divisions shall fail to furnish an able bodied man in fifteen days after the said first day of
August, the said justices and field officers are hereby empowered and required, to appoint some
reputable diligent man in each of the said districts or divisions so failing, to enlist one able
bodied volunteer to serve as a soldier for the time aforesaid, and when any soldier shall have so
enlisted, the person who enlisted him shall carry him before the county lieutenant or commanding
officer of the militia, who is hereby required carefully to view and examine such soldier, and if
he shall be found able bodied and fit for military service, to give certificate thereof, which
shall entitle the person enlisting him, to receive the sum of ten dollars for his charge and
trouble, and the said county lieutenant or commanding officer shall also certify to the said
justices and field officers, for what district and division such soldier hath been enlisted, the
bounty he is entitled by law to receive, which sum, together with the sum of ten dollars for the
charge of enlisting, and five per centum for collection, shall be forthwith levied upon every
person male and female, within such district,

in proportion to the rate of each persons last assessment, to be adjusted and
ascertained by the said justices and field officers; for which purpose the commissioners of the
tax are hereby required to furnish them at their first meeting, with an exact alphabetical list
or account of every persons assessment in the county, and the said justices and field officers
are hereby authorized and required to nominate and appoint some reputable and responsible person
for each district, speedily to make such collection, and when any person chargeable with his
proportion as aforesaid, shall refuse or neglect to make payment thereof within ten days after
the same shall have been demanded, it may and shall be lawful for such collector to distrain for
the same, in manner directed by the act entitled "An act for
raising a supply of money for publick exigencies," provided that the sums so collected
entitle the payer to the same discount as if voluntarily advanced. All officers and soldiers
serving in any of the regiments to be raised by virtue of this act, shall be entitled to the same
pay, benefits, privileges and emoluments, provided for the officers and soldiers of this state by
the act of this present session of assembly, entitled "An act
concerning officers, soldiers, sailors, and marines." All soldiers enlisted by virtue of this
act, shall be entitled to a discharge from the commanding officers to the respective regiments on
the twenty first day of December, one thousand seven hundred and eighty one.

Pay and emoluments. [See ante p. 6.]

Provided always, That the executive of this state may
discharge any of the said regiments whenever their service is not necessary for the defence of
this state. The said regiments shall not be marched out of this state, except to the assistance
of North Carolina, Maryland, or the western frontiers of Pennsylvania in case of invasion.

Act for adjusting and settling the titles of claimers to
unpatented lands under the present and former government, previous to the establishment of the
commonwealth's land office.*

[Chan. Rev. p. 90.]

I. WHEREAS the various and vague claims to unpatented lands under
the former and present government, previous to the establishment of the commonwealth's land
office, may produce tedious and infinite litigation and disputes, and in the mean time purchasers
would be discouraged from taking up lands upon the terms lately prescribed by law, whereby the
fund to be raised in aid of the taxes for discharging the publick debt, would be in a great
measure frustrated; and it is just and necessary, as well for the peace of individuals as for the
publick weal, that some certain rules should be established for settling and determining the
rights to such lands, and fixing the principles upon which legal and just claimers shall be
entitled to sue out grants; to the end that subsequent purchasers and adventurers may be enabled
to proceed with greater certainty and safety: Be it enacted by the General Assembly,
that all surveys of waste and unappropriated land made upon any of the western waters before the
first day of January, in the year 1778, and upon any of the eastern waters at any time before the
end of this present session of assembly, by any county surveyor commissioned by the masters of
William and Mary college, acting in conformity to the laws and rules of government then in force,
and founded either upon charter, importation rights duly proved and certified according to
ancient usage, as far as relates to indented servants, and other persons not being convicts, upon
treasury rights for money paid the receiver general duly authenticated upon entries on the
western waters,

Preamble.

[See 2 Rev. Code of 1819 p. 354 to 482
for this, and the subsequent acts.]

Surveys, what declared valid.

* This act is published in Chan. Rev.
p. 90, in which it is separated by sections, as here; which was not the case in the
original.

regularly made before the 26th day of October, in the year 1763, or on the eastern
waters at any time before the end of this present session of assembly, with the surveyor of the
county for tracts of land not exceeding four hundred acres, according to act of assembly upon any
order of council, or entry in the council books, and made during the time in which it shall
appear either from the original or any subsequent order, entry, or proceedings in the council
books, that such order or entry remained in force the terms of which have been complied with, or
the time for performing the same unexpired, or upon any warrant from the governour for the time
being for military service, in virtue of any proclamation either from the king of Great
Britain* or any former governour of Virginia, shall be, and are hereby declared
good and valid, but that all surveys of waste and unpatented lands made by any other person, or
upon any other pretence whatsoever, shall be, and are hereby declared null and void, provided
that all officers or soldiers, their heirs or assigns, claiming under the late governour
Dinwiddie's proclamation of a bounty in lands to the first Virginia regiment,
and having returned to the secretary's office, surveys made by virtue of a special commission
from the president and masters of William and Mary college, shall be entitled to grants thereupon
on payment of the common office fees; that all officers and soldiers, their heirs or assigns
under proclamation warrants for military service, having located lands by actual surveys made
under any such special commission, shall have the benefit of their said locations, by taking out
warrants upon such rights, resurveying such lands according to law, and thereafter proceeding
according to the rules and regulations of the land office. All and every person or persons, his,
her, or their heirs or assigns, claiming lands upon any of the before recited rights, and under
surveys made as herein before mentioned against which no caveat shall have been legally entered,
shall upon the plats and certificates of such surveys being returned into the land office,
together with the rights, entry, order, warrant or authentick copy thereof upon which they were
respectively founded,

be entitled to a grant or grants for the same in manner and form herein after directed.

II. Provided, That such surveys and rights be returned to
the said office within twelve months next after the end of this present session of assembly,
otherwise they shall be, and are hereby declared forfeited and void. All persons, their heirs or
assigns, claiming lands under the charter and ancient custom of Virginia, upon importation rights
as before limited, duly proved, and certified in any court of record before the passing of this
act; those claiming under treasury rights for money paid the receiver general duly authenticated,
or under proclamation warrants for military service, and not having located and fixed such lands
by actual surveys as herein before mentioned, shall be admitted to warrants, entries, and grants
for the same, in manner directed by the act of assembly entitled "An act for establishing a land office, and ascertaining the terms
and manner of granting waste and unappropriated lands,"* upon producing to the
register of the land office the proper certificates, proofs, or warrants, as the case may be, for
their respective rights within the like space of twelve months after the end of this present
session of assembly, and not afterwards. All certificates of importation rights proved before any
court of record according to the ancient custom, and before the end of this present session of
assembly, are hereby declared good and valid: And all other claims for importation rights not so
proved, shall be null and void; and where any person before the end of this present session of
assembly, hath made a regular entry according to act of assembly, with the county surveyor for
any tract of land not exceeding four hundred acres, upon any of the eastern waters, which hath
not been surveyed of forfeited, according to the laws and rules of government in force at the
time of making such entry, the surveyor of the county where such land lies, shall after
advertising legal notice thereof, proceed to survey the same accordingly, and shall deliver to
the proprietor a plat and certificate of survey thereof within three months; and if such person
shall fail to attend at the time and place so appointed for making such survey, with chain
carriers and a person to mark the lines, or shall fail to deliver such plat and certificate into
the land office, according to the rules and regulations of the same, together with the auditors
certificate

of the treasurers receipt for the composition money herein after mentioned, and pay the
office fees, he or she shall forfeit his or her right and title; but upon performance of these
requisitions, shall be entitled to a grant for such tract of land as in other cases.

III. And be it enacted, That all orders of council or
entries for land in the council books, except so far as such orders or entries respectively have
been carried into execution by actual surveys in manner herein before mentioned, shall be, and
they are hereby declared void and of no effect; and except also a certain order of council for a
tract of sunken grounds, commonly called the Dismal Swamp, in the south eastern part of this
commonwealth, contiguous to the North Carolina line, which said order of council with the
proceedings thereon and the claim derived from it, shall hereafter be laid before the general
assembly for their further order therein. No claim to land within this commonwealth for military
service founded upon the king of Great Britain's proclamation, shall hereafter be allowed, except
a warrant for the same shall have been obtained from the governour of Virginia, during the former
government as before mentioned; or where such service was performed by an inhabitant of Virginia,
or in some regiment or corps actually raised in the same; in either of which cases the claimant
making due proof in any court of record, and producing a certificate thereof to the register of
the land office within the said time of twelve months, shall be admitted to a warrant, entry, and
grant for the same, in the manner herein before mentioned; but nothing herein contained shall be
construed or extend to give any person a title to land for service performed in any company or
detachment of militia.

Rights claimed under certain orders of council, and a royal
proclamation declared void.

Except actual surveys; and except the Dismal Swamp.

IV. And whereas great numbers of people have settled in the country
upon the western waters, upon waste and unappropriated lands, for which they have been hitherto
prevented from suing out patents or obtaining legal titles by the king of Great Britain's
proclamations or instructions to his governours, or by the late change of government, and the
present war having delayed until now, the opening of a land office, and the establishment of any
certain terms for granting lands, and it is just that those settling under such circumstances
should have some reasonable allowance for

the charge and risk they have incurred, and that the property so acquired should be
secured to them: Be it therefore enacted, That all persons who, at any time before the
first day of January, in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy eight, have really and
bona fide settled themselves or their families, or at his, her, or their charge, have settled
others upon any waste or unappropriated lands on the said western waters, to which no other
person hath any legal right or claim, shall be allowed for every family so settled, four hundred
acres of land, or such smaller quantity as the party chooses, to include such settlement.
and where any such settler hath had any survey made for him or her, under any order of the former
government, since the twenty sixth day of October, in the year one thousand seven hundred and
sixty three, in consideration of such settlement for less than four hundred acres of land, such
settler, his or her heirs, may claim and be allowed as much adjoining waste and unappropriated
land, as together with the land so surveyed will make up the quantity of four hundred acres.

V. And whereas several families for their greater safety have
settled themselves in villages or townships, under some agreement between the inhabitants of
laying off the same into town lots, to be divided among them, and have, from present necessity,
cultivated a piece of ground adjoining thereto in common: Be it enacted, That six
hundred and forty acres of land whereon such villages and towns are situated, and to which no
other person hath a previous legal claim, shall not be entered for or surveyed, but shall be
reserved for the use and benefit of the said inhabitants until a true representation of their
case can be made to the general assembly, that right and justice may be done therein; and in the
mean time there shall be allowed to every such family, in consideration of their settlement, the
like quantity of land as is herein allowed to other settlers adjacent, or convenient to their
respective village or town, and to which no other person hath, by this act, the right of
preemption, for which said quantities to be adjusted, ascertained, and certified by the
commissioners to be appointed by virtue of this act, in manner herein after directed. The proper
claimants shall be respectively entitled to entries with the surveyor of the county wherein the
land lies,

upon producing to him certificates of their rights from the said commissioners of the
county, duly attested, within twelve months next after the end of this present session of
assembly, and not afterwards; which certificate the said surveyor shall record in his books, and
then return them to the parties, and shall proceed to survey the lands so entered, according to
law. And upon due return to the land office of the plats and certificates of survey, together
with the certificates from the said commissioners of the rights, by settlement upon which the
entries were founded, grants may and shall issue to them and their heirs or assigns, in manner
before directed. And if any such settlers shall desire to take up a greater quantity of land than
is herein allowed them, they shall on payment to the treasurer of the consideration money,
required from other purchasers, be entitled to the preemption of any greater quantity of land
adjoining to that allowed them in consideration of settlement, not exceeding one thousand acres,
and to which no other person hath any legal right or claim. And to prevent doubts concerning
settlements, It is hereby declared, That no family shall be entitled to the allowance
granted to settlers by this act, unless they have made a crop of corn in that country, or resided
there at least one year since the time of their settlement. All persons who, since the said first
day of January, in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy eight, have actually settled
on any waste or unappropriated lands on the said western waters, to which no other person hath a
just or legal right or claim, shall be entitled to the preemption of any quantity of land, not
exceeding four hundred acres, to include such settlement at the state price to other purchasers.
And all those who, before the said first day of January, in the year one thousand seven hundred
and seventy eight, had marked out or chosen for themselves, any waste or unappropriated lands,
and built any house or hut, or made other improvements thereon, shall also be entitled to the
preemption uno the like terms, of any quantity of land, to include such improvements, not
exceeding one thousand acres, and to which no other person hath any legal right or claim; but no
person shall have the right of preemption for more than one such improvement; provided they
respectively demand and prove their right to such preemption,

before the commissioners for the county, to be appointed by virtue of this act within
eight months, pay the consideration money, produce the auditor's certificate for the treasurer's
receipt for the same, take out their warrants from the register of the land office within ten
months, and enter the same with the surveyor of the county, within twelve months next after the
end of this present session of assembly; and thereafter duly comply with the rules and
regulations of the land office. All locations made by officers and soldiers upon the lands of
actual settlers, shall be void, but the said officers, soldiers, or their assignees, may obtain
warrants on producing the commissioners certificate of their several rights, and locate their
claims on other waste and unappropriated lands. To prevent the locations of those claiming under
warrants for, preemption, from interfering with such as claim under certificates for settlements,
and to give due preference to the latter, so far as respects their rights to tracts of land not
exceeding four hundred acres; the register of the land office shall particularly distinguish all
preemption warrants by him issued, and no count surveyor shall admit any such warrant to be
entered or located in his books, before the expiration of ten months as aforesaid. And where any
such warrant shall not be entered and located with the county surveyor, within the before
mentioned space of twelve months, the right of preemption shall be forfeited, and the lands
therein mentioned may be entered for by any other person holding another land warrant; but such
preemption warrant may, nevertheless, be located upon any other waste or unappropriated lands, or
upon the same lands where they have not in the mean time been entered for by some other.

Locations, by officers and soldiers, on lands of settlers,
void.

What locations intitled to preference.

Warrants re-entered.

VI. And be it farther enacted, That all persons claiming
lands, and suing out grants upon any such surveys heretofore made; either under entries with the
surveyor of any county, or under any order of council, or entry in the council books, for which
rights have not formerly been lodged in the secretary's office, and also those suing out grants
for tracts of lands upon the western waters, not exceeding four hundred acres herein allowed them
in consideration of their settlements, or under former entries with the county surveyor, for
lands upon the eastern waters, shall be subject to the

payment of the usual composition money under the former government, at the rate of ten
shillings stirling for every hundred acres, to be discharged in current money, at the rate of
thirty three and one third per centum exchange, before the grant issues, and to no other charge
or imposition whatsoever, save the common office fees. And to all such persons, their heirs or
assigns, who having title to land under the former government, had not only surveyed the same,
but had lodged their certificates of survey, together with their rights, in the secretary's
office; and although no caveat hath been entered, have not obtained patents, grants shall issue
in consideration thereof, upon the payment of the office fees only.

VII. And whereas it hath been represented to the general assembly,
that upon lands surveyed for sundry companies by virtue of orders of council, many people have
settled without specifick agreement, but yet under the faith of the terms of sale publickly
offered by the said companies or their agents at the time of such settlements, who have made
valuable improvements thereon: Be it enacted and declared, That all persons so settled
upon any unpatented lands, surveyed as before mentioned, except only such lands as before the
settlement of the same, were notoriously reserved by the respective companies for their own use,
shall have their titles confirmed to them by the members of such companies, or their agents, upon
payment of the price at which such lands were offered for sale when they were settled, together
with interest thereon from the time of the respective settlements, provided they compromise their
claims with the said companies, or lay them before the commissioners for their respective
counties, to be appointed by virtue of this act, and have the same tried and determined by them,
in manner herein after directed: And provided also, that where any such survey contains more than
four hundred acres, no one settler shall be entitled to a greater quantity than three hundred
acres, unless he takes the whole survey, to include his settlement, and leave the remainder in
one entire and convenient piece where the same is practicable.

Agreements between companies claiming under orders of council,
and purchasers, from them regulated.

VIII. And whereas the claims of various persons to the lands herein
allowed to the inhabitants, in consideration of their settlements, and of those who, by this

act, are entitled to preemption at the state price, as well as of the settlers on the
lands surveyed for sundry companies by orders of council as aforesaid, may occasion numerous
disputes, the determination of which depending upon evidence, which cannot, without great charge
and trouble, be collected, but the neighbourhood of such lands will be most speedily and properly
made by commissioners in the respective counties: Be it enacted, That the counties on
the western waters shall be allotted into districts, to wit: The counties of Monongalia;
Yohogania, and Ohio, into one district; the counties of Augusta, Botetourt, and Greenbrier, into
one district; the counties of Washington and Montgomery, into one other district; and the county
of Kentucky, shall be another district; for each of which districts, the governour, with the
advice of the council, shall appoint four commissioners under the seal of the commonwealth, not
being inhabitants of such district (any three of whom may act) to continue in office eight months
from the end of this present session of assembly, for the purpose of collecting, adjusting, and
determining such claims, and four months thereafter for the purpose of adjusting the claims of
settlers on lands surveyed for the aforesaid companies. Every such commissioner, before he enters
on the duties of his office, shall take the following oath of office: "I A. B. do swear that
I will well and truly serve this commonwealth in the office of a commissioner for the district of
for collecting, adjusting, and
settling the claims, and determining the titles of such persons as claim lands in the said
district, in consideration of their settlements; of such as claim preemption to any lands
therein, and also of such settlers as claim any lands surveyed by order of council, for sundry
companies, according to an act of general assembly, entitled An act for adjusting and settling
the titles of claimers to unpatented lands, under the former and present government, previous to
the establishment of the commonwealth's land office; and that I will do equal right to all manner
of people, without respect of persons; I will not take by myself, nor by any other person, any
gift, fee, or reward for any matter done, or to be done by virtue of my office, except such fees
or salary as the law shall allow me; and finally in all things belonging to my said office, I
will faithfully, justly, and truly,

claims to lands on the western waters, how appointed, their
oath, duty, power, and modes and rules of proceeding.

according to the best of my skill and judgment, do equal and impartial justice, without
fraud, favour, affection, or partiality. So help me God." Which oath shall be administered by
any of the said commissioners to the first of them in nomination, who shall be present, and then
by him to the others. The said commissioners shall have power to hear and determine all titles
claimed in consideration of settlements to lands, to which no person hath any other legal title,
and the rights of all persons claiming preemption to any lands within their respective districts,
as also the rights of all persons claiming any unpatented lands, surveyed by order of council for
sundry companies, by having settled thereon under the faith of the terms of sale publickly
offered by such companies or their agents, and shall immediately upon receipt of their
commissions, give at least twenty days previous notice by advertisements at the forts, churches,
meeting-houses, and other publick places in their district, of the time and place at which they
intend to meet, for the purpose of collecting, hearing, and determining the said claims and
titles, requiring all persons interested therein, to attend and put in their claims, and may
adjourn from place to place, and time to time, as their business may require; but if they should
fail to meet at any time to which they shall have adjourned, neither their commission nor any
matter depending before them shall be thereby discontinued, but they shall proceed to business
when they do meet, as if no such failure had happened. They shall appoint and administer an oath
of office to their clerk; be attended by the sheriff, or one of the under sheriffs of the county;
be empowered to administer oaths to witnesses or others, necessary for the discharge of their
office; to punish contempts, enforce good behaviour in their presence, and award costs, in the
same manner with the county courts; they shall have free access tot he county surveyor's books,
and may order the same to be laid before them, at any time or place of their sitting, and shall
pay to such surveyor, out of the fees received by them for certificates, the sum of three pounds
for every day he shall attend, and to the sheriff for the like attendance, two pounds for each
day's attendance. In all cases of disputes upon claims for settlement, the person who made the
first actual settlement, his or her

heirs or assigns, shall have the preference. In all disputes for the right of
preemptions for improvements made on the land, the persons, their heirs or assigns respectively,
who made the first improvement, and the persons to whom any right of preemption on account of
settlement or improvements shall be adjudged, shall fix the quantity at their own option at the
time of the judgment, so as not to exceed the number of acres respectively allowed by this act,
or to interfere with the just rights of others. The clerk shall keep exact minutes of all the
proceedings of the commissioners, and enter the names of all the persons to whom either lands for
settlement or the right of preemption as the case is, shall be adjudged with their respective
quantities and locations, and also the names of all such persons to whom titles shall be adjudged
for lands within the surveys made by order of council for any company with the quantity of acres
adjudged, and in what survey; and if the same is only part of such survey, in what manner it
shall be located therein, the name or style of the company, and the price to be paid them, with
the time from which the same is to bear interest. Upon application of any person claiming a right
to any lands in virtue of this act, and complaining that another pretends a right in opposition
thereto, the said clerk shall issue a summons, stating the nature of the plaintiffs claim and
calling on the party opposing the same, to appear at a time and place certain therein to be
named, and shew cause why a grant of the said lands may not issue, or a title be made to the said
plaintiff: The said summons shall be served on the party by the sheriff of the county where he
resides, or wherein he may be found, and such service being returned thereon, and the party
appearing or failing to appear, the commissioners may proceed to trial, or for good cause shewn,
may refer such trial to a farther day. The clerk shall also have power at the request of either
party, to issue subpœnas for witnesses to appear at the time and place of trial, which
shall be had in a summary way without pleadings in writing, and the court in conducting the said
trial, in all matters of evidence relative thereto, and in giving judgment, shall govern
themselves by such rules and principles of law or equity, as are applicable to the case, or would
be the rule of evidence or of dicisiion, were

the same before the ordinary courts of law or equity; save only as far as this act shall
otherwise have specially directed. Judgment when rendered shall be final, except as herein after
excepted, and shall give to the party in whose favour it is, a title against all others who were
parties to the trial; and if after such judgment rendered, the party against whom it is, shall
enter the said lands forcibly, or forcibly detain the same, it shall be lawful for the said
commissioners or any one of them, or any justice of peace for the county, to remove such force,
in like manner as if it were committed on lands holden by grant actually issued. The said
commissioners shall deliver to every person to whom they shall adjudge lands for settlement, a
certificate thereof under their hands, and attested by the clerk, mentioning the number of acres,
and the time of settlement, and describing as near as may be, the particular location, noting
also therein the quantity of adjacent land to which such person shall have the right of
preemption. And to every other person to whom they shall adjudge the right of preemption to any
lands, they shall in like manner deliver a certificate, specifying the quantity and location of
such land, with the cause for preemption, with a memorandum for the information of the party in
each certificate of the last day on which the lands therein respectively mentioned can be entered
with the county surveyor: For every hundred acres of land contained within the said certificates,
the party receiving the same, shall pay down to the commissioners the sum of ten shillings,
besides a fee of ten shillings to the clerk for each certificate so granted; and the said
certificates produced within the times herein before respectively limited to the surveyor of the
county, or to the register of the land office, with the auditors certificate of the treasurer's
receipt for the payment due on the preemption, as the nature of the case may require, shall
entitle the person respectively receiving them, to an entry and survey, or a warrant for the said
lands, in such way, and on such terms as herein before prescribed. And to prevent frauds or
mistakes, the said commissioners immediately upon having completed the business in their
district, shall transmit to the register of the land office, under their hands, and attested by
their clerk, an exact list or schedule in alphabetical order, of all such certificates

by them granted, and a duplicate so signed and attested to the county surveyor for their
information. They shall in like manner, and upon payment of the same fees, deliver to every
person to whom they shall adjudge, a title to any unpatented land, surveyed for any company by
order of council, a certificate mentioned the number of acres to which they have adjudged the
title, what particular survey the same is in, and for what company made, the price to be paid
such company, and the date from which the same is to bear interest, and where there is a greater
quantity of land contained in the survey, describe as near as may be, the manner the land to
which they have adjudged title, shall be laid off and bounded; and shall also immediately upon
having completed the business in their district, transmit to the clerk of the general court,
under their hands, and attested by their clerk, a list or schedule in alphabetical order,
containing exact copies of all such certificates by them granted, to remain in the said clerk's
office for the information of the said companies, and as evidence and proof of the respective
titles.

Duty of commissioners in relation to lands adjudged
against companies.

IX. Provided nevertheless, That if the parties, their
heirs or assigns, to whom such titles shall have been adjudged, shall not within six months at
farthest, from the time of their respective judgments in their favour, pay or tender to the
company to whom the same is due, or their agent, the price and interest so fixed by the said
commissioners, the title of every person so failing, shall be forfeited, and shall be from thence
forward, to all intents and purposes, null and void; any thing herein to the contrary thereof
notwithstanding. The said commissioners for every day they shall be actually employed in the
execution of their office, shall be allowed the sum of eight pounds each; they shall be
accountable for all the money they shall have received upon issuing certificates as aforesaid,
except the fee to the clerk, and shall settle a fair account upon oath, with the auditors, and
receive from the treasurer whatever balance may appear due to them thereon, or pay to him any
balance which shall be by them due to the commonwealth. The clerk and sheriff shall receive for
their services, the fees heretofore allowed by law for the like services in the county court, and
the witnesses the same allowance for their attendance, to

be paid by the party, and collected in like manner as is directed in the ordinary cases
of the same nature, and the clerk shall have the same power of issuing executions as the clerks
of the county courts; provided that the clerk shall not be allowed any farther or other fee for
entering and issuing a certificate than is herein before mentioned. But as by this summary mode
of proceeding, some persons at a greater distance may not have timely notice, and may be unable
to appear in support of their claims, for remedy whereof, Be it enacted, That no grant
shall issue upon any of the claims determined by the said commissioners until the first day of
December, 1780, and in the mean time, any such person injured by their determination, his or her
heirs or assigns, may enter a caveat against a grant thereupon, until the matter shall be heard
before the general court, and may petition the said general court to have his or her claim
considered; and upon its being proved to the court that he or she laboured under such a
disability at the time of the meeting of the commissioners thereupon, the court shall grant him
or her a hearing in a summary way, and if it shall appear upon trial, that the petitioners claim
is just, such court may reverse the former determination, and order a grant to issue for such
land or any part thereof, on the terms herein before mentioned, to the person to whom they shall
adjudge the same.

Within what time caveats to
judgments of commissioners may be entered in general court.

X. And be it farther enacted, That all claims for lands
upon surveys under any order of council or entry in the council books, shall be the respective
claimers be laid before the court of appeals; which shall meet for that purpose on the sixteenth
day of December next, and shall adjourn from day to day until the business be finished; or if it
be proved to the court that any such claimer is unable to attend and prosecute his claim, or for
other just cause to them shewn, they may order such claim to be tried before them on some future
day. All such claims shall be heard and determined in a summary way, without pleadings in
writing, upon such evidence as in the opinion of the court, the nature of the case may require;
and no such claim shall be valid, but such only as shall be so heard and established by the said
court of appeals, an don their certificate that any such claim hath been by them established, the
register is hereby required to issue a warrant

Certain land claims to be laid before the court of appeals, and
there decided.

or grant thereupon, according to the nature of the case, and the rules and regulations
of the land office; and the attorney general is hereby required to attend the said court on
behalf of the commonwealth

XI. Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall
extend to officers, soldiers, or their assignees, claiming lands for military service. The
register of the land office shall regularly record all land warrants issued by virtue of this
act; they may be executed in one or more surveys, and may be exchanged or divided so as best to
suit the purposes of the party, and shall remain in force until lands shall have been actually
obtained for them, in the same manner with the warrants to be issued by virtue of the before
recited act for establishing a land office. And when the said register shall make out a grant to
any person or persons for lands due to him, her, or them, by virtue of this act, he shall recite
therein as the consideration, the rights and cause for which the same became due, according to an
act of general assembly, passed in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy
nine, entitled "An act for adjusting and settling the titles of claimers to unpatented lands
under the former and present government, previous to the establishment of the commonwealth's land
office;" and if any part thereof is due in consideration of the ancient composition money, or the
new purchase money paid to the commonwealth, the same shall be properly distinguished, and in
every other respect the grant shall be drawn and pass in the form and manner prescribed by law
for future grants of lands from the commonwealth.

Proviso, in favour of officers and soldiers. Register's
duty in recording land warrants, & making out the grants.

XII. And whereas at the time of the late change of government, many
caveats against patents for lands which had been entered in the council office, were depending
and undetermined, Be it enacted, That all such caveats, with the papers relating
thereto, shall be removed into the clerk's office of the general court, there to be proceeded on
and tried in the manner directed by law for future caveats; but the same shall be determined
according to the laws in force at the time they were entered; and upon the determination of any
such caveat, a grant shall issue in the name of the person to whom such land shall be adjudged,
his or her heirs or assigns, upon producing to the register of the land

office, within three months at farthest from the time of such judgment, an authentick
copy thereof, together with the auditor's certificate of the treasurer's receipt for the antient
composition money due thereon, at the rate of exchange herein before mentioned; but where the
person recovering had before paid rights into the secretary's office, a grant shall issue in
consideration thereof upon payment of the office fees only.